Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Eritrea and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing June of 44 to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Stetsasonic. All the underground hits.
All Jimmy McGriff tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mary Jane Girls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Severed Heads,
Faust,
The Human League,
Bauhaus,
Depeche Mode,
Tom Boy,
Scratch Acid,
Dark Day,
Bluetip,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Easy Going,
Boredoms,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Icehouse,
Lee Hazlewood,
Hoover,
Main Source,
Ice-T,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Make Up,
Stetsasonic,
The Gap Band,
Rapeman,
Susan Cadogan,
Tommy Roe,
Tubeway Army,
Nas,
Deepchord,
Pere Ubu,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Jimmy McGriff,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Grandmaster Flash,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Lakeside,
The Knickerbockers,
Derrick Morgan,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Q and Not U,
Shoche,
Big Daddy Kane,
Con Funk Shun,
EPMD,
Pussy Galore,
Porter Ricks,
Sam Rivers,
The Cowsills,
Bill Near,
Public Image Ltd.,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Sound,
The Electric Prunes,
Jerry's Kids,
Lou Reed,
Tim Buckley,
Leonard Cohen,
X-Ray Spex,
Vladislav Delay,
The Birthday Party,
The Gladiators,
Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.